There’s a gorgeous scene in 20,000 Days on Earth where Nick Cave heads home at the end of his 20,000th day on earth, and snuggles up with his twin sons in front of the television. When I heard the news in July about the tragic death of Nick Cave’s son Arthur, it was that scene that immediately popped into my head. Forget the sophisticatedly dressed, charismatic wordsmith and performer – it was the image of Nick Cave as the doting father that came to mind. It was at that point I realised, that even though this documentary is a stylized, manipulated dramatisation of Cave’s life, I’d still got an unprecedented look into his life and the process behind his songwriting, and I’d almost convinced myself that I knew him. 20,000 Days on Earth screens on Thursday, and should not be missed.
There’s a gorgeous scene in 20,000 Days on Earth where Nick Cave heads home at the end of his 20,000th day on earth, and snuggles up with his twin sons in front of the television. When I heard the news in July about the tragic death of Nick Cave’s son Arthur, it was that scene that immediately popped into my head. Forget the sophisticatedly dressed, charismatic wordsmith and performer – it was the image of Nick Cave as the doting father that came to mind. It was at that point I realised, that even though this documentary is a stylized, manipulated dramatisation of Cave’s life, I’d still got an unprecedented look into his life and the process behind his songwriting, and I’d almost convinced myself that I knew him. 20,000 Days on Earth screens on Thursday, and should not be missed.
Monday 24th August, 8.30pm … Metalhead
This is the fifth film from well-known Icelandic director Ragnar Bragason (Parents and Children). A family drama that oozes Scandinavian melancholy, the film is centered around Hera whose older brother dies in a tractor accident when she is 12. Living in a remote rural area of Iceland, Hera struggles to deal with her grief in this small community, taking on her brother’s heavy metal musical tastes and wearing his clothes. As she grows older, Hera (played at this point by Þorbjörg Helga), becomes more rebellious. The scenery is stunning and it’s setting does give this film a particularly bleak tone, but it’s a story that anyone, anywhere can relate to, and one that will validate metal heads passion for their music. Helga, who Gragason discovered as a student at the Art Academy in Iceland, spent a year and a half to learn to play the guitar and pass herself off as a genuine metal head. Metalhead premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and went on to win eight awards at the Icelandic Film Awards.
Thursday 27th August, 8.30pm … 20,000 Days on Earth
This original, beautifully shot, quasi-fictional day in the life documentary is a must-see for lovers of Nick Cave. One of my favourite documentaries of 2014, 20,000 Days on Earth was nominated for a BAFTA and won the 2014 Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Documentary Best Editing and Directing Awards. This unconventional biography is the debut directorial feature film by innovative visual artists Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard and is set to an original score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. Forsyth and Pollard had worked with Cave on various projects before, and for this documentary they delved into Cave’s personal notebooks seeking inspiration. It was in these notebooks they were able to trace the transformation of Cave’s ideas, his interests and concerns and his songwriting techniques. They also came across the title of this film, and decided to capture Cave’s thoughts on life, being a songwriter, fame and self-invention as a fictional narrative of Nick’s 20,000th day on earth. A beautiful essay about the importance of art and creativity, and the relationship between artifice and truth, 20,000 Days on Earth is occasionally self indulgent, but it’s easy to forgive the dapperly dressed artist of this.
Saturday 29th August, 8.30pm… Cold in July
From Jim Mickle, the director of We Are What We Are, comes another smart and engaging neo-noir thriller filled to the brim with twists and turns. Michael C. Hall is excellent as Richard Dane, a family man whose life is turned upside down after he shoots and kills a home invader. Mickle sets the scene brilliantly, and also nails his casting with Sam Shepard playing the dead burglars father who taunts Dane, and Don Johnson steals the final act as a private investigator that arrives in time to save the day. A nicely crafted and bloody little thriller indeed, Cold in July is based on the novel by Joe R. Lansdale and apparently Mickle is looking to adapt more of the books into a television series.